A Fine Night For Wine And Complaints
by SlemmieB
Summary: Really bad at summmaries but please read:)
1. Chapter 1

I wasn't about to say I loved her. Oh hell no! I wasn't about to beg her to stay, so that morning we ate breakfast in silence as our feet whispered things our mouths wouldn't say. Her converse brushed my vans like a soft kiss to the forehead, as she finished up the crisp autumn colored bacon. If her paradise blue eyes caught my devilish brown i'd gaze off into my cereal, I couldn't look at those eyes. Afraid I would confess to her the words her own mother wouldn't say, I stood up poured the remainder of my milk into the sink, picked up my backpack and whispered a goodbye as I scooped up my keys off the round table next to the front door.

YEARS LATER

I knew that smell it was a mixture of honey vanilla and poison. I searched the gallery for her and caught a glimpse of auburn hair tied neatly in a bun. I reached for her as I heard a faint sound.

"Spencer"..."Spence" .."Spencer Marie Carlin"?!

"Huh? I mean Yes?" I turned my head to reply to my over excited, yet faintly annoying assistant.

"Are you ready to present the newest collection, or should we wait until 2046?" she said in her monotone voice. I took a moment to smile softly as the rest of her sarcasm bled from her sentence.

"We will begin shortly Madison. Did you by any chance notice any buyers or spectators who seem to just stand out to you?" I replied with a soft pointed gesture of my eyes to the left side of the room directly at the back of the brunette woman's head. Her eyes followed my stare and I noticed them bulge slightly before she recovered her short existing composure, before she freaked out once more, this time verbally..

"Is that...that..that..it that..thing..is that..,that? Because if that is that.. I want that removed from this building."

Please forgive me my fellow listener did I say verbally? It seems my assistant and long time friend needs a bit more help with her diction these days.

I watched calmly as she tried once more to compose herself, she slowly wiped the bit of trickling sweat off of her palms and on to her black pencil skirt. She let her hands travel up to her velvet silk shirt and tucked it into the front and backs of her skirt, a nifty habit she picked up in college after finally stopping her smoking addiction. Finally she rested the frail strands of hair sliding from her ponytail behind her ear, as she looked towards me searching my eyes for some type of emotion.

"We should begin now Maddy" I moved towards the platform in the center of the room and stepped up the steps, one by one I let go of it all.

Flashback

I stood from the table only to hear the door slam, relaxing my shoulders and staring at the round table I walked to the door, as I opened it I stepped onto the grass. I called out to her before her fingertips reached the car door. She faced the street as I approached her claiming her bookbag sliding it down her shoulders. I dropped it to cement and dared her to turn around with the nudge of my knuckles on her shoulder blades, a sign only she would understand. She held her ground, a war she wanted with me, a fight she would have, I drew back my weapons firing first with a kiss to her neck. Her armor faltered as her knees buckled lightly. She took a step forward and turned with a glare. "I can't" she whispered words I knew all to well. Could we go back? I remember wanting the roofies in my drink in order to forget the taste of her lips. Perfected poison, her hands on my waist, it was just the night before. A war she wanted with me, a fight she would have, I positioned my sword between her heart and stabbed her with words "why?". Her mouth opened and closed she was a fish out of water I'd caught her never to throw her back again. "You know why. Please I can't" I leapt at her grasping her lips in mine as she died in my arms, melting into the warmth of my embrace. I walked back to the front door with a fallen soldier in my arms, hands on my waist,and teeth nipping gently at my pulse. She'd lost the war.

Present Day

I grabbed a glass of wine from a caterer on the ground floor as I raised it to the crowd for my speech. I glanced over the room waiting for them to acknowledge me and stop their chatter. As the room surrendered to silence I spoke. "Thank you all for coming" I began, shortly after my own voice began to sound like blah blah blah to my very own ears. I watched her intently never letting her gaze affect the speech I had memorized like her breathing patterns as she slept. She tried helplessly not to recognize my voice, but her lips moistened as I closed and finished my speech with a smile. I headed down the steps straight to her. "Hello Spencer" She spoke timid and her gaze leapt to the oiled hardwood of the studio floor. "Hello" I replied "Haven't seen you in a while". She nodded as her reply I knew my closeness to her was affecting her breathing my scent she knew all to well. This scene we reenacted all to much, as I placed my hand on her back leaning in to whisper in her ear. "Hello sweetie sorry im late" a familiar voice said from behind. I turned to my surprise to find a very tall very handsome male replica of me standing with roses in his hand. As he leaned in to kiss her cheek my mouth dropped.

"What the hell Glen"

Authors Note: So Im really bad at summaries but I enjoy reading reviews please let me know what you think and if you guys enjoy i'll be posting again shortly.


	2. Journey Home

First off I want to thank you guys for the reviews! I almost did a back flip! Well here goes another chapter.

The room seemed to be spinning, no melting or orbiting around her, as I turned to face her my eyes couldn't glance up. My hands trembled and I itched to slap her, if only to inflict some type of pain. The soft chuckles of conversation, romantic dim red lights, carefully chosen whispers of music, and black paintings of the walls, set off a mood of death to me at this moment, instead of the comfortable, sexy ambiance it was chosen for. It was as if she was an actress on stage, and I her co star, she stared intently at me waiting for my next lines, I'd forgotten them on stage and was left to look at the floor too hide the embarrassment.

"Spencer.." Glenn bitterly spoke my name. "I think you should calm down, I thought you had gotten over this."

"Fuck you Glenn" I spat back venomously turning I searched for the exit I felt her finger tips brush over my elbow as if to keep me cemented in place. An icy fire chilled up my back burning my dress with sweat as I jerked from her touch. I remember noticing the quick pace pattern of Madison's heels follow after me, and as I turned the corner to stop and have a minute to collect myself outside of my studio she flew fast into my side.

"Damn it Spence most people just don't stop directly in front of the door!" She motioned to her left. "Maybe to the side of the door".."Even on the ground,but never directly in front of the door." She pointed to the muddy ground of the parking lot, it was covered in cigarette buds, and brown grass, grass that traced me back to the steps where I would sit, pull out a cigarette, light it, consider smoking, and ash it out. A horrible waist of money and cigs but what can I say? She requested I stop, I threw away the pack, she requested we run away, I bought plan tickets, she requested we break up, I held her bags. I came back from my intense memories only to notice the cigarette in my mouth and lighter in hand. I searched Madison's eyes, they were comforting but confused filled with love and hate. I stood up and ashed the cig grabbed my keys from my purse and started the walk home. The night was dim, trees half dead spoke to me as I caressed their leaves, what the fall does to Texas. I listened to the squish squash of water and brownish red leaves under my heels. They sang a melody that carried me home. As I forcefully jammed my keys into my apartment I became very aware of the figure standing behind me. "Hello Ashley" I spoke to the young,attractive first year college student at A&M. Ashley Davies stood 5'6 a nice slender built body with the most refined muscles my eyes have seen, a slight smile graced her lips as she replied back "How was your art opening tonight? You seem like your home a tad earlier than you expected." I guess she had become well aware of my late nights and fast paced living as of late. What was I to do? A mate is not something I particularly go out searching for, but I'm not against inviting a nice,young, half naked and half drunk woman back to my apartment on a chilly fall night. I took my keys out of my door and twisted the knob. Inviting her in without a word said. It had become a habit for her and I, a silent promise if you will. She would enter, and we would playfully banter about life, and alternate realities we would choose if we had the chance, and somewhere along the lines she would ask about her, and I would then have to invite another memory that had no longer been welcomed back into the closed vault of my mind. Tonight was no exception. It started with a glass of wine and ended with a kiss, it wasn't something we were use to, Ashley being straight and having a boyfriend didn't exactly except the intrusion of my tongue, but being that she started the kiss she couldn't forbid it. Her hands came up, as a shield to block her emotion and my lips. She searched for something, anything to tell her it was wrong, to explain why her impulses reached out and caressed my cheek, leaned in and kissed my forehead, felt around and squeezed my hips, splurged in and tasted my lips. When she decided it was an unexplainable explanation to her feelings(and I'm guessing or should I say hoping that these feelings she had felt for a while) she excused herself from my couch and headed toward my door. "Spend the night" A simple request that slipped from my lips like velvet wine. The words flowed to her ears as a question, rather than a statement. And her reply I waited for,as I crossed my legs one over the other on the couch. Her head twitched as if to say no, so I stood up and approached her frame. "We can just talk Ash" I whispered into her neck and she turned to face me slowly nodding her head. As I gently wrapped her in a hug she froze I leaned away to get a glance at her face. She was distant and I could tell tonight wasn't going to be the pleasant night of conversation that i'd hoped for. She leaned in tracing my lips with the coolness of her breath as she spoke "Tell me everything about Stephanie please Spence." I knew I was clay in her hands and hopefully tonight she would mold me into a greater work of art.

Hope you enjoyed please review!:)


	3. Long Talk

Once again thanks for the reviews guys! Sorry for the bit of confusion in my last paragraph ill make sure to separate it into different parts :)

I turned towards the couch and listened to her footsteps as she followed. We sat in silence for a while as I searched the coolness of my apartment for a warm embrace. I stared at the wall full of pictures, memories of good and bad. My voice seemed to escape the prison of my esophagus, and the words that spoke were foreign to me. "I loved her" it was stated simple and plain. I unmasked it for the first time, and the thing staring back at me was the ugly truth...i loved her.

Ashley's head rose to the sorrowful sound of my voice. Her expression was as if I told her I murdered someone, her mouth was agape and her eyebrows had strained a bit. The tightness of her facial features caused me to feel uncomfortable, self conscious, and restrained. I stood quickly causing her eyes to rise to follow my retreating figure. "I didn't tell her of course because..." my vocal chords seemed to give out and fade away like a candle burning strong until the first winds of a chilly night. I began to search the wall for the memory that wouldn't fade away, even if I bleached my very soul to chemically burn it out. It haunted me, taunted me, down right destroyed my very being, and tonight I would confess it all. I slowly picked up the picture from its nail in the wall. The screech and drawl the picture made on the wall gave me a spooky relief.

I handed her the picture and plopped down nervously beside her. "He..Aiden..was.." I inhaled and turned to the coffee table beside the couch, lying firmly on its surface was my lighter and camels pack. I reached and grabbed the contents on the table as if they would leap to there death and escape me. I put the cigarette firmly between my mouth and looked toward her. Her eyes were fixated on mines waiting patiently for me to continue. She gently placed her hand on my knee and began to rub circles across it. She looked intently at the picture as I lit the cig and took a deep, long, exhausted drag. Her hands traced the face of a small dark haired boy at the age of 6, he was smiling and his hands grasped the front of my Miami Heat jersey as I held him tight. I pointed to the glass of the picture with my cigarette as I exhaled "He..was ours" as I said this her eyes bulged and searched mines for answers. The questions she had, I already knew, the sadness she would feel, I felt, the hatred she would carry, I held.

I rolled my eyes in an attempt to seen nonchalant, but the situation wasn't something I could brush off. "Stephanie use to be the girl..of my dreams. That was until I found her sleeping with my hopeless ass brother, after he had defeated his drug addiction to every known painkiller in the galaxy." I took the time to pause, for all of that was said, in a hushed, vile, tone, and no breath had been taken. I was sure Ashley wouldn't understand the words that ran from my lips, but she simply stated "Im so sorry Spence, but what does that have to do with the boy...Aiden?" I kept my head low careful not to see her eyes as I explained the worst of it all. "We adopted him shortly after she graduated college, and although I was still trying to get on my feet as a freshman at Texas Tech I couldn't resist the need to give her everything she hoped for. She wanted to start our family, and I wanted to start our life. So we adopted him, the most amazing kid, always happy and smiling. Aiden was my pride and joy he loved everything about life, and I loved everything about him. I was coming home one night from picking him up at the babysitters, it was raining, and I was rushing to get home to Steph, because we had an "important" house party to hold. I didn't see the logs that were flying off the service truck ahead of me."

I stopped, I couldn't continue, I had become well aware of her hands gently sifting through my hair as I laid in her lap. She had gestured I lay, mid way through my journey to a memory unforgotten. I rolled over on my back and stared into her crying eyes, as she stared into my distant ones. "Im sorry.." was all her eyes could say, though her mouth spoke nothing, her hands told a story of want as she tugged my hair a bit and leaned down to kiss my lips barely brushing them. I kissed back full heartedly and she knew. The pain, hate, and lust I felt, she knew, and she handled it by the courageous flicks of her tongue over my bottom lip. I leaned into her and embraced her with a hug pulling her down to me even further. "Should I go" her voice echoed into my apartment only to be swallowed by another brave peck. "Stay with me..." I replied.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you once again for the reviews! :) Heres another chapter

It had been two unholy earth splitting weeks since the night Ashley had stayed over, my busy work schedule, and her unfortunate class studies had kept us from texting, let alone seeing each other. As I sat on my bed after a relaxing shower I couldn't help letting my mind sink to visions of her. Her lips that traced my hips, her eyes that saw my heart, fingertips that made love to my hands, as they clasped in a tight embrace.

I stood up sliding on a pair of ripped jeans,and my old basketball tee from my highschool days. I plopped my hair in a bun and jumped in my vans. I slowly sauntered over to my front door, grabbing my key,cigs, and lighter in the process. I was sick of missing her, her smell, a comforting honey fragrance, her touch, gentle as lilly pedals, loneliness and hurt were my poison and she had become the remedy. I walked the short distance from my front porch to hers. It wasn't necessarily the easiest thing to do considering the fact it took me tree minutes to walk over...and twenty to work up the courage to actually knock. I know, I know, I was being a big over dramatic baby,but it had been weeks since we last spoke what if she regretted that night, or she didn't think of me at all? As my hand shakily approached the cool,rough wood of her front door I was interrupted by a small chuckle. I turned my head to the side to see the object of my nervous and uncollected behavior.

"Ash..how long have you been there.?" I asked shyly as I stared at the concrete of her porch.

"Long enough to know you hum when your nervous, prepare a speech when you can't think of what to say, and tried knocking on my door a total of seventeen times before you actually noticed I was here." She simply stated back. She was as cool and nonchalant as ever and I was a nervous, blushing, wreck who was currently rocking back and forth on my tip toes in front of her apartment door. Im sure she could tell I was quite uncomfortable as she brushed past me sliding the key into her door and welcoming me inside. I caught a whiff of her perfume and nearly fainted on her door frame, I refocused my attention back to conversation because standing in silence for so long tends to freak me out.

"I came to check on you since we hadn't spoken in quite some time." I quietly spoke as she gestured for me to follow her to the kitchen. I slide into a comfy chair as she prepared me a glass of wine. I gladly excepted it and took a short sip. "How've you been?" I questioned. She took a minute to adjust her dress and inhale deeply. "I've been..." She trailed off a bit and we lost eye contact as she traced the ring on her middle finger. A gift from her boyfriend I suppose, because the pained expression of her face and her fluid body movements hinted towards her unconfessed sadness.

"We broke up" she stated with a hurt tone in her voice.

Sorry For the short update.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys I'm back from Europe sorry for such a long wait on the update. Thanks so much for the reviews.

The words echoed through the apartment, as slithery as snakes on the ground, smooth as fine liquor, yet pained as repetitive stabs to one's chest. Ashley searched beneath the ring, beneath the message of what it represented, down to its core. The surface was complexly simple, man of good taste if you ask me. Silver with an emerald diamond, her birth stone I suppose. I sat still with my eyes fixated upon her statued figure. She was frozen in time, her past and his.

Flashback Ashley P.O.V

I left Spencer's before the sun rose, it felt as if the moon chased me home. I knew it was late or early should I say. I needed to wash off her scent and think. Had we made love all night? She held me as if she'd dreamt of the chance her entire life. We talked and laughed, spent time intertwining our past, though we chose different paths, I felt we were one in the same. Don't mean to be crude my dear friend but I screamed her name hard as I came, softly tugging strands of her hair. As I slumped, the sweat tricking down my spine, heart pounding beneath my breast,mind swirling, I remember. I remember his touch, how it burned my spine, hands, strong, calloused from days of work, eyes, weak, worn, glimmering with thoughts of me. I remembered and I shook heavy with a burden, a burden I was to carry alone. I couldn't explain to him my nights affairs, for I didn't know what possessed me myself. So I left Spencer's before the sun rose,it felt as if guilt chased me home, and when I arrived I damn near quarantined to get her familiar, comforting, distinctive, scent from my body. I heard a knock on the door and prayed to the heavens Spencer hadn't decided to drop by before work. As I approached the door I got a strange feeling, one of guilt and a pang of fear arose in my throat and settled itself in my diaphragm. I couldn't breathe my hands trembled as they touched the cold metal of my door knob. I swung the door open,and was met by a strong whiff of his smell,and the kindness of his warm brown eyes. It had been months since I'd seen him, though I admit his uniform still did insane things to my hormones. "Calvin" I said his name in a hushed tone as I stared at the cement of my porch. He closed the distance between us as he wrapped me up in his strong arms kissing me passionately. "Ashley I've missed you." His silky baritone voice made my bottom lip twitch with the urge to tell him all I've done to ruin us. I thought I had the courage,but the sentence that arose from the tomb of my esophagus was a simple "I've missed you too".

"You didn't tell me you had been sent home when we spoke last week." I said in an exhausted sigh. "I didn't know, but my Sergeant told me a couple of days ago that I was being sent back home on leave for a while." he replied simple and cold. "Why" I questioned. His hands wrapped around my waist lightly squeezed me a bit before releasing me to the ground. "Long story" he said and I knew not to question him anymore. If he was to tell me it would take time and I wouldn't rush him. He rarely spoke of the terrors he experienced during war, but he wore the wounds on his body, the slaughters on his face, nightmares behind his eye sockets, scrapes on his abdomen. Maps of his survival, his existence, traveled across his flesh, marking an x across his beating heart. He entered the warmth of our home and breathed in deep, as if trying to memorize its essence.

Present Day

I looked up to glance at Spencer and her eyes hadn't left my figure since I slipped her the news. I refrained from tearing up as I took the ring off and placed it upon my countertop. A lot had happened in two weeks, enough change for me to explain my whole life to her. I questioned who I was the moment her lips touched mine. I knew i'd lost myself in an instant when my world tumbled,crashed,burned down, my walls clamped, and she held me through it all. I looked dead at her eyes trying to convey my loss and pain to her without words. The fear of speaking had doomed me to avoiding her for weeks. Her texts and calls all answered with short answers of I'm busy and maybe some other time. I know it took and effort to call because she had been extremely busy with her new exhibit,and it was doing extremely well. Know it was time to explain myself...the whole story. I just hope she excepts me in the end.

Thanx for reading guys!


	6. Breaking The Law

Thanx for the reviews guys! :)

Ashley P.O.V

Stuttering had never been my thing, even as a child the uneven feeling of nerves in the pit of my stomach when I had done wrong or lied never brought me to stutter. I would toy with the bottoms of my skirt, nibble my bottom lip, twirl my hair even, but Ashley Anne Davies was a woman of words, not broken syllables and awkward sounds. It was as simple as opening my mouth, charging my tongue to life, boosting my teeth, and shocking my vocal chords. That was all the effort needed to speak to Spencer Carlin, as she sat patiently in my kitchen, across the counter, in the expensive yet terribly uncomfortable chairs I and my sister had picked out. Yet I found myself mumbling unrecognizable sounds in the form of sentence. I noticed her ears shoot up as if to hear me a bit better, for my voice was strained and weak. I spoke as if a child, afraid to be punished, yet still trying to prove myself not guilty for the crime of tipping the cookie jar, a crime I knew i'd committed.

I took a second to calm myself before speaking once again, this time with a little courage and security. "Spencer would you like to go for a drive with me?" I knew the strange question came as a shock to her. I mean she had walked all the way over, obviously to spend some alone time with me in my apartment and ten minutes of her being here and I'm already trying to get her out. I began to freak myself out with the things that could be going through her head at the moment, so I decided to make my sentence more clear, seeing as she hadn't quite replied to my request. "I mean it helps me think...driving that is" I said nonchalantly though I was screaming, and terribly nervous on the inside.I went quickly to my room,and changed from my tight fitting dress to a pair of comfy, worn jeans, and my roses are red with thorns tee. I grabbed my keys off the coffee table in my hallway beside the front door,without words she followed me out.

The car ride began a bit silent. I was anxious but my words wouldn't form. Her face was as still and calm as water, she never made the wrong move or said the wrong thing. She simply sat in the passenger seat quietly and still,glancing at me subtly awaiting my voice. My lovely friend conversation came about thirty minutes in to the journey. I had no idea where we were going I was just taking lefts and rights but it landed us at a place I knew extremely well. I looked at her as I parked the car, her eyes were bright and hopeful but they dulled after I spoke. "We can talk here." I spoke rushed and turned my back to open the door and slide out. I waited for her to get out and sat on the hood of my car. "This place is beautiful Ash." She said as she approached my slumped figure and sat closely beside me on the hood. She crossed her legs indian style and looked out over the river. It had calmed me in my younger days. I would come to it for comfort and after my mother died this place and I were inseparable. I would sit on the vines, green and yellow and find my mothers arms around me. The willow trees bark would crack and moan, her voice spoke out to me. My feet would slide through the soil, wet and foggy, grasping it tight between my toes and letting go, the only thing that held me to the Earth. I'd watch astounded as the river flowed,crept,soothed, its way over the rocks, and it was if my mother was holding me in an embrace she'd never let go.

I began to take off my shoes and socks. I waited for her to follow suit and when she did I hopped of my hood, letting the soil sink and gush between my toes. I slid my hand into hers and tugged a bit for her to follow me. I popped open my trunk and pulled out my guitar case. "I didn't know you played" she said a tad shocked. I nodded my head in affirmation and continued to close my trunk and trek us through the woods to my favorite place. Spencer walked beside me enjoying the sounds and engaging scents of my peaceful place. She looked around to the tree tops and reached out to graze over the flower beds. She searched the river for answers my lips wouldn't convey. I led her to a log and sat down beside her. The log was on a hill a bit above the river so we had a perfect serene view. I let her hand go and noticed how cold my lonely hand felt without hers. "I use to come here to think when I was younger. I'd just play and drown everyone else out. Honestly I had stopped coming up here for years until now." I spoke gently and looked everywhere but her eyes. "Why did you break up?" She asked cautiously, grabbing ahold of my hand and squeezing lightly. "Because I felt strongly...for someone." I whispered. She looked at me confused. "What do you mean she replied?"

I opened my case and pulled up my guitar. I felt it all over slowly and got familiar with it once again. It had been years since I played, I put my strap across my shoulders and began strumming slowly making sure it was still in tune. I looked at her and licked my lips and began.

"When you need to smile"

"But you can't afford it"

"Go on point it out"

"I'm gonna steal it"

"When the floor is more familiar than the ceiling"

"I will break in late at night"

"Shake up how you're feeling"

"I'll never stop"

"Breaking the law for you"

"I'll never stop"

"Helping to pull you through"

"Whatever it takes to get what you need"

"Ignore the alarms"

"Ignore the police"

"I'll never stop"

"Breaking the law for you"

"When you're taking steps"

"But need to go faster"

"We can speed through streets"

"So the shadows can't catch ya"

"When the corridors and all the stairs are making you tired"

"I will come for you"

"Set the building on fire"

"I'll never stop"

"Breaking the law for you"

"I'll never stop"

"Helping to pull you through"

"Whatever it takes to get what you need"

"Ignore the alarms"

"Ignore the police"

"I'll never stop"

"Breaking the law for you"

I finished strumming my last few chords and looked at her. No words needed to be said as she grabbed my neck gently tugging me to her she kissed all my fears away. Passionately she bit my lip and slowly kissed me. Rubbing the sorrowful tears that had slipped from my deceiving eyes to my cheeks she knew all that I had, and all I had was this. My happiness, my pain,my heart, my soul, my tears, my laughs, the bed where I lay to rest, the home I came to, and all of it was hers.

Thank you for reading hope you enjoyed:) The song useds was breaking the law by emeli sande:)


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